Linda Eder hits a personal best with 'If You See Me'

Linda Eder, shown in 2017, digs deep in her sumptuous new album, "If You See Me."

Linda Eder, shown in 2017, digs deep in her sumptuous new album, "If You See Me." (Kristan Lieb / for the Chicago Tribune)

Howard ReichChicago Tribune

The first time I encountered Linda Eder, at Park West in 1994, I hardly could believe what I was hearing.

Was it possible that a voice this huge and luxuriant was being applied not to the pop trivialities of the moment but to timeless American songwriting made famous by the likes of Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett? Could it be that an emerging singer, who attracted a small audience to her unheralded Chicago debut, was bringing a fiercely personal perspective to music of the Gershwins, Jule Styne and Paul Simon, as well as more contemporary, Sondheimesque fare?

Those questions soon were answered with a resounding “yes.” For that first Chicago concert was no fluke, Eder soon establishing herself as the next great voice in the Garland/Streisand tradition. If Eder’s turn in the musical “Jekyll & Hyde,” by her then-husband Frank Wildhorn, brought her new acclaim, it was her solo work — in concert and on record — that defined Eder’s position as champion of classic American song.

Eder has recorded steadily and performed judiciously since then, declining to play hundreds of concerts per year, as other singers on the way up often do. As a result, she has managed to preserve and nurture that remarkable instrument despite the passage of decades, as she proves beyond doubt in her newly released, 17th solo album, “If You See Me.”

To anyone who values Eder’s work in mainstream, swing-tinged repertory — apart from her forays into country-pop singing and self-styled songwriting — “If You See Me” will come as balm. For during the course of its 12 tracks, Eder delivers gems by Styne, Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Cy Coleman and, of course, the Gershwins with all the power, sumptuousness and sensuousness of sound one has come to expect from her (she even renders Andrew Lloyd Webber palatable).

But there’s more here, as well. The insight of Eder’s interpretations, the audaciously slow tempos she takes in certain ballads, and the layers of nuance and texture of her vocals indicate an already accomplished singer digging deeper.

In part, this owes to the way the album was recorded: extremely up close and personal. We can hear Eder drawing breath between phrases; we can discern when she chooses to apply a hint of grain or grit to her otherwise silken lines. Every detail of Eder’s articulation and timbre are rendered plain to hear, the singer giving listeners some of their closest access yet to the character of her sound.

No track on the album crystallizes the evolution of Eder’s work more than her illuminating version of Sondheim’s oft-sung “Losing My Mind.” Here Eder somehow sustains a classic-pop sensibility while pursuing the song’s darkest subtext. The sheer deliberation of her tempo, with Eder investing unmistakable meaning into every passing note, renders this the album’s centerpiece.

One simply does not often encounter such sheer beauty of tone tempered by flashes of sorrow, expressed via a catch in the throat here, a barely whispered note there, a high-register sigh somewhere else. No two phrases — sometimes no two pitches — show quite the same vocal color, Eder continually recasting the music to reflect the emotional undertow of a Sondheim masterpiece.

Eder cheekily invites comparisons to Streisand with her opening selection, Herman’s “Before the Parade Passes By,” but Eder stands as one of the few vocalists who can do so effectively. As she slowly but inexorably turns up the dial and the tempo, it’s impossible to think of anyone else’s version but hers, the bloom of her sound and the surge of her crescendos impossible to deny or resist.

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” from “Carousel,” may seem like ancient history, but Eder’s slowly soaring version emerges as an anthem for the ages. Elsewhere, Eder’s sassy, saucy version of “What Did I Have That I Don’t Have” refreshes another Streisand landmark; “Bring Him Home,” from “Les Miserables,” shows Eder making an epic concert aria of the tune; and a medley of “The Best Is Yet to Come,” “The Man I Love” and “Just in Time” attests to her reverence for songs that invite continued re-examination. All of this is accompanied by hefty swing-band arrangements that don’t get in the way.

Eder closes the album on a family note: “I Have a Voice,” by ex-husband Wildhorn and Robin Lerner, nobly serves its purpose of combating bullying in schools; “If You See Me” marks a collaboration between composer Jake Wildhorn (the singer’s son with Frank Wildhorn) and lyricist Eder, the catchy tune evoking vintage Billy Joel.

But of course, it’s the standards that drive this album and represent the essence of Eder’s art.

Grant Park road trip

The Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park serves as a splendid home for the Grant Park Orchestra, but the institution takes its music into other neighborhoods next week.

Members of the orchestra will perform Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” and Grieg’s “Holberg” Suite at 7 p.m. Monday at the South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 S. South Shore Drive; and 7 p.m. July 12 at the Columbus Park Refectory, 5701 W. Jackson Blvd. Concertmaster Jeremy Black will conduct. Free seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis; reserved seats will be available to those showing membership cards to an usher. For more information, phone 312-742-7647 or visit www.gpmf.org.

Pinchas Zukerman’s 70th

Eminent violinist Pinchas Zukerman, who turns 70 this month, will celebrate the occasion leading the Zukerman Trio in an all-Brahms program 7:30 p.m. July 11 at the Ravinia Festival’s Martin Theatre, near Lake-Cook and Green Bay Roads, Highland Park; $40-$60 tickets; $10 lawn; phone 847-266-5100 or www.ravinia.org.